E3 2003: Pirates Sequel at E3?

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Avast ye mateys! The rumor cannon has fired, and now we're in search of a golden treasure.

By IGN Staff

We've known that Sid Meier and the Firaxis team have been working on a new game to be unveiled at E3 this year for quite some time. Rumors abounded as what it might be. A sequel to Alpha Centauri perhaps? Civilization IV? Colonization II? Something completely new? Our minds were racing as to what the possibilities may be.

While we've already secured an appointment to see Firaxis' next big project at E3, we still didn't know exactly what it was...until today. When we checked our mail this morning, we found a scroll that gave us all the answers, and it appears one of our all-time favorite games may be getting a facelift for the 21st century. The invite we received today clearly points to what the announcement is going to be: a sequel to Pirates! appears to be in the works.

The greatest tribute to Sid Meier's greatness was Pirates!, a naval strategy/adventure game that even now has never been approached in its subtlety and ability to entertain. You started the game as a citizen from one of four different nationalities (English, Spanish, Dutch or French) with a long lost sister to rescue (a foreshadowing of the X-Files if I've ever seen one) and a thirst for adventure. After outfitting your ship with a crew, food to feed them and guns to fire at your enemies, you set to the sea in search of adventure. You could either play the game as a raw pirate sliding from island to island looking for any ships you could loot and sink or you could ask the various governors that you encountered for letters of cachet that would reward you richly for sinking their enemies. The latter tactic could lead to gold, titles of nobility and better and better marriage prospects. The game also featured several different forms of combat (all equally entertaining) which allowed captains who preferred hand fighting to lock with their enemies as quickly as possible and those who favored traditional naval battles to dance nimbly out of range while peppering their foes with their cannons. If you were really lucky, you could discover a treasure map that would lead you to a fortune or you could get information that would lead you to the treasure fleet (although the latter wouldn't give up its gold without a fight). One of those rare games that managed to give something to everyone.

Notice the map of the Caribbean? Notice the pirate ships on the left side of the map? Notice the big red "X" that marks the spot? Notice the obligatory "shiver me timbers" pirate speak? Notice the promise of free cocktails? There's no doubt in our minds now that Firaxis' announcement is going to be Pirates II, a rebirth of a classic. While we don't have any gameplay details at this point, you better believe we're already excited about the prospect of taking to the high seas again.

Expect all the details and more when we see the game later this week. Yar!